Four Roses Small Batch Select Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Whisky
Advocate
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Distiller Notes
#3 Whisky Advocate Top 20 Whiskies of 2019
San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Gold Medal: Single Barrel up to 10 years 2017
Master Distillery Brent Elliott selected and mingled six of Four Roses’ 10 Bourbon recipes, each aged a minimum of 6 years, to handcraft Small Batch Select. Non-chill filtered and 104 proof, our newest permanent product- line extension, offers truly unique flavor characteristics. Balancing notes of candied fruit with warmth and spice. Small Batch Select is enjoyable to both casual drinkers and Bourbon connoisseurs. Best enjoyed straight up or on the rocks.
On the nose, Four Roses Small Batch Select offers raspberries, clove and nutmeg. As it hits the palate, it opens into flavors of apricot, ripe berries, vanilla and light oak. The finish lingers with notes of spearmint and a touch of cinnamon.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Created by master distiller Brent Elliott to mark the distillery’s grand reopening, this Bourbon is the first permanent addition to the portfolio since 2006. This is a concentrated sip—even with plenty of water— showing warm, toasty vanilla, sugar cookies and buttery brioche, finishing extra-long and drying, accented by plenty of baking spice. It’s a real lipsmacker.
-
Whisky Advocate
The limited-edition releases from Four Roses are always top-notch, but this bourbon—a permanently available addition to the lineup—proves itself every bit the equal of its rarer brethren. Made with the distillery’s F yeast strain, among others, it has a perfumed nose, with orange blossom, cedar chest, berries, spearmint, tobacco leaves, sassafras, licorice, and layers of earthy spice. The palate is consistent and deep, with flavors of cherry Coke, cough syrup, orange oil, leathery dark fruit, black pepper, chili flakes, and chocolate, shifting into a minty finish replete with pepper, cinnamon, dark chocolate, cooked berries, and roasted walnuts. Full, rich, and utterly satisfying.
Established in 1888, Four Roses is the only Bourbon distillery that combines two mashbills with five proprietary yeast strains to distill and age ten distinct Bourbon recipes, each with its own unique flavor profile. With distilling and warehousing operations in Lawrenceburg and Cox’s Creek, Kentucky, respectively, Four Roses is dedicated to producing award-winning Bourbons with smooth and mellow tastes and finishes.
Only Four Roses handcrafts 10 distinct and extraordinary Bourbon recipes then mingles them by hand to create our family of award-winning brands. Artistry such as this is how we survived Prohibition, The Great Depression, Two World Wars, and 40 years of exile from the US, only to be named American Whisky Distiller of the Year for 2011, 2012 and 2013- three years in a row – by Whisky Magazine. Handcrafting this way may be a bit more time consuming, but one sip, and you’ll no doubt agree, its worth the extra effort.
Although Bourbon may be produced anywhere in the United States, it is most commonly associated with Bourbon County, Kentucky, where it has been produced since the late 18th century. Made from a mash bill containing at least 51% corn, the Bourbon Whiskey distillate must be aged in new, charred white oak barrels. Bourbon Whiskeys are bottled at eighty proof (40% abv) or higher and cannot contain any added color or flavor. A versatile spirit that can be sipped neat, with water or on the rocks, it also performs nicely added to cocktails like the Old Fashioned.